d maker of medicine.

The shaman poked among the shadows on the rim of the firelight and
roused up a slender young boy, whom he brought face to face with
Keesh; and in the hand of Keesh he thrust a knife.

Gnob leaned forward. "Keesh! O Keesh! Darest thou to kill a man?
Behold! This be Kitz-noo, a slave. Strike, O Keesh, strike with the
strength of thy arm!"

The boy trembled and waited the stroke. Keesh looked at him, and
thoughts of Mr. Brown's higher morality floated through his mind, and
strong upon him was a vision of the leaping flames of Mr. Brown's
particular brand of hell-fire. The knife fell to the ground, and the
boy sighed and went out beyond the firelight with shaking knees. At
the feet of Gnob sprawled a wolf-dog, which bared its gleaming teeth
and prepared to spring after the boy. But the shaman ground his foot
into the brute's body, and so doing, gave Gnob an idea.

"And then, O Keesh, what wouldst thou do, should a man do this thing
to you?"--as he spoke, Gnob held a ribbon of salmon to White Fang, and
when the animal attempted to take it, smote him sharply on the nose
with a stick. "And afterward, O Keesh, wouldst thou do thus?"--White
Fang was cringing back on his belly and fawning to the hand of Gnob.

"Listen!"--leaning on the arm of Madwan, Gnob had risen to his feet.
"I am very old, and because I am very old I will tell thee things.
Thy father, Keesh, was a mighty man. And he did love the song of the
bowstring in battle, and these eyes have beheld him cast a spear till
the head stood out beyond a man's body. But thou art unlike. Since
thou left the Raven to worship the Wolf, thou art become afraid of
blood, and thou makest thy people afraid. This is not good. For
behold, when I was a boy, even as Kitz-noo there, there was no white
man in all the land. But they came, one by one, these white men, till
now they are many. And they are a restless breed, never content to
rest by the fire with a full belly and let the morrow bring its own
meat. A curse was laid upon them, it would seem, and they must work it
out in toil and hardship."

Keesh was startled. A recollection of a hazy story told by Mr. Brown
of one Adam, of old time, came to him, and it seemed that Mr. Brown
had spoken true.

"So they lay hands upon all they behold, these white men, and they go
everywhere and behold all things. And ever do more follow in their
steps, so that if nothing be done they will come to possess all the
land a